New budget cuts could occur within the TVA Group, warns Pierre Karl Péladeau. The president and CEO of Quebecor is not ready to part with the company, which recorded significant financial losses at the start of the year.
“We cannot say that there will not be [de compressions]. Will there be? Yes, probably as time passes, ”he said in an interview with Gérald Fillion on the Zone Économie program, on ICI RDI, Thursday evening.
The businessman was invited on the set to talk about his recent acquisition of Freedom Mobile, which allowed Quebecor to become the fourth largest wireless service provider in Canada. However, the host took the opportunity to ask him about the future of TVA Group.
That same morning, Quebecor unveiled its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Its TVA Group subsidiary recorded a drop in revenue of $8.4 million compared to the previous year. The CEO explained this decline in the network’s profitability, among other things, by competition from web giants, which monopolize 80% of advertising revenues, but also by that of the Société Radio-Canada, which benefits from public funding.
“We will not be able to live with losses like those we experienced in the first quarter. There is no company that can live with permanent losses,” insisted Mr. Péladeau during the interview, assuring however that he did not want to part with Groupe TVA.
Recall that Quebecor has already abolished 240 positions, including 140 in the TVA Group, last February, due to significant financial losses in the last quarter of 2022, due to the decline in profitability of the TVA network and TVA Sports.
Questioned in particular on the TVA Sport channel, Mr. Péladeau indicated that its closure was not in the plans “for the moment”. He said he was waiting for a “decision from the arbitration [au Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes (CRTC)] “. Quebecor is embroiled in a dispute with Bell over the rate paid by the distributor for access to TVA Sports. In the opinion of the entrepreneur, this decision in arbitration of the CRTC will be “decisive for the future of TVA Sports”.